By Sam Waller
Fort Griffin State Historic Site has a new look with the completion of work on its playground.
Site manager Mitch Baird said the project took literally decades from conception to completion.
“I have been trying for 20 years to get this new playground,” Baird said. “So far, all the kids who have been down there are really happy with it. I’m happy with it because it’s taken me 20 years to get the playground updated.”
By Sam Waller
Project Graduation is taking a different approach in its fundraising efforts for the Albany High School Class of 2023, but the end goal remains the same.
Organizer Amanda Tabor said the project will not conduct a Valentine sale this year, but earlier efforts have gone well.
“We’ve already done cookie dough sales and had a booth at Fall Fest in October,” she said. “What we have planned next is to do some Sunday meals in January and February.”
By Sam Waller
Shackelford County 4-H is hitting the ground running in 2023 with preparations for the upcoming county livestock show being given high priority.
Steer Weigh-in
Final weigh-in for the county show’s new commercial steer class will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8 at Watt Casey’s pens.
“This will give us the steers’ final weights so the kids can put together their record books and get those turned in,” Shackelford County extension agent Kelsey Bell said. “We’re wrapping it up.”
Record books are due to Bell on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
Angelo State University in San Angelo, has announced the students achieving the Dean’s List for the 2022 fall semester, including Ana Balliew of Albany.
To be eligible for the ASU Dean’s List, full-time undergraduate students must maintain a 3.25 or better grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Balliew is majoring in Management at Angelo State. She is the daughter of Candy and Tim Balliew of Albany.
By Donnie A. Lucas
Albany students and staff will head back to the classroom next week, with teachers and staff reporting on Monday, Jan. 9 and students coming the following day on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
The regular bell schedule will ring for students on Tuesday, with the second bell ringing at 7:55 a.m. at Nancy Smith Elementary and 8:00 a.m. at the secondary campus.
The break started with an early-release day on Wednesday, Dec. 22.
Teachers are going back a day earlier for staff development and to plan for the new semester.
By Sam Waller
Rev. Stan Allcorn’s dedication to God has made him put retirement on hold.
Again.
Allcorn, who served as senior pastor at Abilene’s Pioneer Drive Baptist Church for 22 years, takes over as interim pastor at Albany’s First Baptist Church this week. It is his second interim posting since he retired, following a two-year stint at a church in Tuscola.
Julia Bowman and Taylor Scott were recognized by Midwestern State University Honor Rolls for the Fall 2022 semester.
Julia Bowman, majoring in Radiologic Technology, was named on the President’s Honor roll. This list includes students who complete 12 hours with no grade lower than A (4.0).
Taylor Scott, also majoring in Radiologic Technology, was listed on the Provost’s Honor Roll.
Students who complete 12 hours in one semester with a GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 and no grade lower than C are included on the Provost’s Honor Roll.
By Donnie A. Lucas
Seating is already limited for the first performance of a new concert series hosted by Albany Live at the Aztec Theater set for Saturday, Jan. 14.
Fewer than 50 general admission tickets are available for the Paul Cauthen concert on Saturday, Jan. 14 at $75 per seat. All reserved seating has been sold.
Concerts are planned for five out of the first six months of 2023, opening with a return performance by Cauthen, who performed in the first series last year.
By Sam Waller
Albany’s Kenzie Neve brought home an armful of awards from the Arizona National Livestock Show, held Dec. 27-31 at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix.
Neve, an Albany High School sophomore, claimed the grand champion intermediate cattle showman prize for the second year in a row.
“There were something like 80 exhibitors in her division, so that was pretty fun,” Neve’s mother, Leslie, said.
By Sam Waller
Drought conditions brought on by a La Niña weather system were the major weather story in Shackelford County in 2022, and it doesn’t appear conditions are going to change in early 2023.
Meteorologist Mike Castillo of the National Weather Service office in San Angelo said the system caused warmer and drier weather locally last year.
Shackelford County received 17.34 inches of rainfall in 2022, according to data from the NWS co-op station in Albany, 11.58 inches below the annual average of 28.92 inches.
